Now this is a weird story: apparently the congressional ethics office is investigating some congressmen for fundraising from industries that are subject to pending legislation. Suddenly Washington's absolute favorite activity, overt bribery, is worthy of selective investigation?

The Times reports that eight unlucky congressmen, probably picked out of a hat, are subject to this Office of Congressional Ethics probe, which is looking into allegations that they "solicited and took large contributions from financial institutions even as they were debating the landmark regulatory bill, according to lawyers involved in the inquiry."

The thought of committing this very act is what gets every member of Congress out of bed in the morning, every day.

For example, on Dec. 10, one of the lawmakers under investigation, Representative Joseph Crowley, a New York Democrat who sits on the Ways and Means Committee, left the Capitol during the House debate to attend a fund-raising event for him hosted by a lobbyist at her nearby Capitol Hill town house that featured financial firms, along with other donors. After collecting thousands of dollars in checks, Mr. Crowley returned to the floor of the House just in time to vote against a series of amendments that would have imposed tougher restrictions on Wall Street.

But when he came back to the chamber, was he chugging champagne and doing big fist pumps and shouting CHA-CHING CHA-CHING? Maybe, in that case, he would be worthy of investigation.